The Missing - Key questions

17-07-2002

How can people not or no longer participating in armed violence be protected against threats to their lives, their physical well-being and their dignity?

How can we ensure that civilians, especially minorities, are always respected, that unaccompanied minors are always protected and that persons deprived of their liberty are at all times treated humanely?

How can we ensurethe exchange of family news between civilians, whether separated from each other , internally displaced or refugees, and between persons deprived of their liberty or members of the armed forces or armed groups and their relatives?

How can weensure that information about the dead is duly collected and transmitted to their families?

How can we improve the identification of the dead, whether members of the armed forces or armed groups, civilians or persons deprived of their liberty?

How should we deal with human remains?

How should we inform families about the death of their relatives?

How can we help families in their mourning?

How can we improve methods to exhume and identify the dead?

How can we provide a proper legal and ethical framework, and ensure proper expertise and proper exhumation and identification procedures?

How can we make sure that personal data are protected at all times?

How can we support families in the exhumation and identification process?

How can we help the families of the missing and provide for their specific material, legal and psychological needs?

How can we providethe appropriate mechanisms and resources to clarify the fate of missing people?

How can we ensure the accountability of parties to an armed conflict or internal violence?